Question about prions

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justin.anon@gmail.com - 01 Jul 2007 04:34 GMT

I have a question about prions (I hope you'll excuse some moderate
ignorance, I'm a physicist with correspondingly limited biology
knowledge).

I'm wondering if anyone has ever investigated if naturally-occurring
"prion"-like proteins might possibly contribute to, or be _partially_
responsible for, natural cell differentiation in embryos? I.e.,
instead of markers regulating ribosomal expression in different cell
types, might there also be markers that regulate the post-ribosomal
folding of proteins -- sort of like natural, non-pathological
"prions"?

Also, is it conceivably possible that "relatives" of modern prions
might have played any major roles in the differentiation of species in
early evolutionary biology (e.g. large prion-mediated cellular
catalytic changes that could have had dramatic consquences, such as
even fostering such major changes like the development of eukaryotes
from prokaryotes, etc.?) Could prion-like proteins have a much larger
role in evolutionary biology than we currently think?

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justin.anon@gmail.com - 01 Jul 2007 05:18 GMT

I now see that some related issues had been raised previously on this
newsgroup, in the thread
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.bio.microbiology/browse_thread/thread/75e6c04
25d3f364/1a7a44545ef0d622?lnk=gst&q=prions&rnum=3#1a7a44545ef0d622

(in fact, by a self-described ex-convict named Lefty, no less! -- it's
always wonderful too see that I'm in good company!!!... ;)
His questions were similar to mine (although not quite identical, and
they were perhaps raised in a slightly more contentious manner).
Unlike him, I am not claiming that the concepts that he raised or that
I raised are at all new, and in my case am only searching for relevant
references that might satisfy my curiousity. Thanks in advance.

Justin

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Bob - 02 Jul 2007 05:38 GMT

>I have a question about prions (I hope you'll excuse some moderate
>ignorance, I'm a physicist with correspondingly limited biology
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>from prokaryotes, etc.?) Could prion-like proteins have a much larger
>role in evolutionary biology than we currently think?

I think your question is rather advanced for the current state of
knowledge on prions in higher organisms. There is, I think, only one
type of prion protein known in higher organisms. No one really knows
what it does (deleting it seems to have little or no effect).

However, if you look at some of the work with yeast prions, I think
you will find some things that fit with the general spirit of what you
suggest. Susan Lindquist's group has suggested that prions may serve
as genetic buffers.

bob

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Natural Science Forum / Biology / Microbiology / July 2007

Question about prions